I’m at it again with another made-up regional name. Just as there is no such place as MassConnIsland to encompass the three southernmost states in the New England region, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine to the north don’t really come together as NewVerMaine. But they have enough in common to set them apart from the […]
Light to Light
Posted November 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pm (UTC-4)
Thanksgiving time, when the last of autumn’s radiant leaves cling stubbornly to the trees and the first snowflakes flutter in the mountains, brings out the nostalgia in us. It’s during November’s closing week, more than at any other time, that we travel great distances to, in the words of the hymn, gather together and ask […]
Lost Wages
Posted November 17th, 2008 at 8:30 pm (UTC-4)
The City of Las Vegas, individual casinos, and airlines that serve the city want your visit and your money. Repeat visitors with lots of it get exceptional deals and VIP treatment They say that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” True, true, true. Many’s the time I’ve left my money in Las Vegas. […]
Mall of Americans
Posted November 7th, 2008 at 6:02 pm (UTC-4)
I sometimes wonder what it would be like to work in an ordinary office or veterinarian’s clinic or wine shop next door to some historic landmark, say the Leaning Tower of Pisa. What would it be like to walk to work each day past the Taj Mahal, or live in a little cottage half a […]
Texians
Posted October 24th, 2008 at 6:03 pm (UTC-4)
President Bush has frequently vacationed at his Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford. Like former President Ronald Reagan at his Western White House, Bush relaxes by clearing brush. On the January day that he becomes our former president, or soon thereafter, George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, will leave Washington for their ranch near tiny […]
N’Awlins
Posted October 17th, 2008 at 5:47 pm (UTC-4)
It’s been 23 years since I left New Orleans, and still, to quote the Eddie De Lange and Louis Alter song of half a century ago, I know what it means to miss “New Orleens.” Oh yeah, I know. This old postcard view captures the Pontalba Apartments, built by Baroness Michaela Pontalba, who also convinced […]
Old 11
Posted October 10th, 2008 at 3:14 pm (UTC-4)
Eighteen years ago during a short stint in management here at the Voice of America, I sent a superb reporter named Bill Torrey on a journey that I longed to make myself. As it turns out, my photographer-wife Carol M. Highsmith and I would later retrace a good deal of his route, to our deep […]
Almost Heaven
Posted September 29th, 2008 at 5:01 pm (UTC-4)
Coonskin caps were warm accessories in the cold southern mountains. The raccoon’s tail, hanging down one’s back, might have been a fashion statement. Back when Hector was a pup, as my mother used to say in one of her imponderable expressions, I went spelunking — cave exploring — for the one and only time, somewhere […]
